Advance working or mining machine

ABSTRACT

In an advance working or mining machine including a traveling mechanism, excavation tools movable over the mine face as well as roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus having associated operating platforms for the operation of the roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus, at least a part of laterally cantilevering platforms is each arranged to be pivotable and/or displaceable transversely to the longitudinal axis of the machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an advance working or mining machine including a traveling mechanism, excavation tools movable over the mine face as well as roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus having associated operating platforms for the operation of said roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus.

2. Prior Art

When driving roadways, or reclaiming material below ground, different mining machines are employed. Advance working machines or mining machines having their own traveling mechanisms, which are usually designed as crawler mechanisms, as a rule, comprise excavation tools that are movable over the mine face, whereby walling is to be preferably realized as closely to the mine face as possible in order to ensure maximum safety during excavation or advance working. Apart from using separate vehicles for walling, which transport roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus as well as the structural elements required for the protection of the roof and floor, it has been known, particularly with highly crumbly rock, to arrange roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus directly on the advance working machine itself, in which case an operating platform must be provided on the cutting machine or advance working machine for the operating personnel of such roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus. A substantial advantage of such advance working machines displaceable on crawler mechanisms is the high maneuverability and good curve-going ability. Consequently, additional devices provided on such machines would, as a rule, have to be arranged in a manner so as not to impede the curve-going ability or maneuverability of the machine itself. Such an impediment of the curve-going ability may result from accordingly largely dimensioned operating platforms provided for additional devices such as roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention aims to provide, in the initially presupposed advance working or mining machines including integrated roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus, accordingly stable operating platforms which, at the same time, offer enhanced protection to the operating personnel while avoiding any limitation of the maneuverability of the advance working machine.

To solve this object, the advance working or mining machine according to the invention is designed in a manner that at least a part of laterally cantilevering platforms is each arranged to be pivotable and/or displaceable transversely to the longitudinal axis of the machine. Due to the fact that accordingly stably dimensioned platforms are arranged to be pivotable and/or displaceable transversely to the longitudinal axis of the machine, an accordingly stable and sufficiently large operating platform will be provided in the pivoted-out position, and the maneuverability or curve-going ability of the machine will in no way be impeded by the simple pivoting in or insertion of the platform. In this respect, the configuration is advantageously devised such that the platforms, in the outwardly displaced or pivoted positions, are pressable against the side wall by hydraulic or pneumatic actuating drives at adjustable pressing pressures. Such an adjustable pressing pressure allows the platform to be pressed against the side wall and, if desired, the pressing pressure to be adjusted in a manner so as to preserve a sliding friction between the lateral parts of the platform and the side wall, thus enabling the machine to be appropriately centered within the road during its displacement, what is of particular advantage especially with sloping roads. In a particularly advantageous manner, the configuration in those cases is devised such that the lateral edges of the pivotable and/or displaceable platforms carry runners and/or lateral shields.

The desired unrestricted curve-going ability of the advance working machine may be safeguarded in that the platform parts rigidly connected with the machine frame in top view are located within a contour spanned by the respectively broadest dimension in the region of the excavation tools and the respectively smallest width on the rear end of the machine frame. A thus geometrically formed contour enables even small curve radii to be drifted without colliding with the side wall, wherein the configuration according to the invention is preferably devised such that the pivotable and/or displaceable platforms are pivotable and/or displaceable into a position located within said contour.

A particularly stable structure which, if desired, at the same time provides for a lateral support will be achieved in that the pivotable and/or displaceable platforms are arranged in a manner capable of being pivoted in or inserted below the platforms rigidly connected with the machine frame, in the vertical direction.

Basically, different structural solutions of the principle according to the invention may, thus, be envisaged, wherein it is, for instance, possible to connect with the frame of the crawler mechanism, laterally of the crawler mechanism, rigid platforms increasing in width from the back to the front. The pivotable parts of the operating platform may be articulately connected to such a fixed operating platform via connecting rods. In the event of a collision with the side wall, the geometry of such connecting rods may be chosen such that the platform parts will pivot inwardly, which naturally calls for the use of accordingly torsion-resistant connecting rods. Besides such a mode of construction with a somewhat larger structural height, the platform may, of course, be articulately fixed directly to the frame of the advance working machine and pivoted by the aid of adjustment cylinders. The runners and/or shields arranged on the outer contour of the pivotable platform parts may have the form of side wall securing walls and, in an advantageous configuration, may also be telescopic in height and in a manner adapted to the height of the mineral seam.

The operating platforms may, thus, be designed as collision protectors and used to center the advance working machine in the event of oblique floors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention will be explained in more detail by way of exemplary embodiments schematically illustrated in the drawing. Therein:

FIG. 1 is an oblique view of an advance working machine including a pivotable platform;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the advance working machine according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of a modified embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic ground section of the modified embodiment according to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevation of the platform region of the configuration according to FIG. 1 or 2; and

FIG. 6 is the pertinent ground section, in which parts of the drive are entered in broken lines.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 depicts an advance working machine 1 on whose front end facing the work surface a cutting cylinder 3 is arranged to be pivotable in the vertical direction. The advance working machine 1 comprises lateral operating platforms 4 and pivotally hinged platforms 5 accordingly enlarging the operating range in the vicinity of roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus schematically indicated by 6. The lateral partial region of the pivotable platform 5, which is adjustable at the side wall, carries runners 7 and a shield-like protection wall 8 telescopically designed in the vertical direction by means of extractable parts 9 so as to likewise ensure a lateral protection against collapsing rock in the region of the operating platform 5.

On the rear end of the advance working machine 1, appropriate bearing sites for a conveying means are to be seen on the machine frame 10.

In the illustration according to FIG. 2, the operating platforms 5 are in a laterally pivoted-out position. The conveying means is schematically indicated at 11. When pivoting the platform 5 in the sense of arrow 12, the outer edge 13 of the pivotable platform is moved into a position in alignment with the outer edge 14 of the fixed part of the platform 4 such that, in the main, a substantially trapezoidal contour is formed, by which the curve-going ability will be hardly affected, since it is determined by the respective minimum dimensions of the cutting cylinder 3 and the haulage means 11.

In the configuration according to FIGS. 3 and 4, the laterally extractable or outwardly pivotable platform 5 is articulately connected to the machine frame via connecting rods 19 and 20. The kinematics in this case is devised such that the respective connecting rods 19 and 20, respectively, will again pivot in at a lateral collision of the runner 7, or protection wall 8, with the side wall, whereby the platform 5 is pivoted back in the sense of arrow 15, and subsequently is pivoted in, by a hydraulic cylinder piston unit 21.

From the configurations according to FIGS. 5 and 6, which basically correspond to the illustration of the configuration according to FIGS. 1 and 2, it is apparent that the platform 5 is outwardly pivotable about a pivot axis 16 in the sense of double arrow 12. The respective pivot drive is comprised of a hydraulic cylinder piston unit 17. The pivoted-in position is indicated by lines 18 and clearly shows that this position is located within the trapezoidal contour as defined above. 

1. An advance working or mining machine comprising: a traveling mechanism; excavation tools movable over a mine face; roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus; and an operating platform means associated with said roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus and provided for operation of said roof bolt drilling and setting apparatus, wherein said operating platform means comprises a laterally cantilevering platform means having at least a part arranged to be at least one of pivotable and displaceable transversely to a longitudinal axis of said advance working or mining machine.
 2. An advance working or mining machine as set forth in claim 1, further comprising adjustment drive means constructed to press said laterally cantilevering platform means in an outwardly displaced or pivoted position against a side wall at an adjustable pressing pressure.
 3. An advance working or mining machine as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a machine frame, and wherein said operating platform means comprises a platform part rigidly connected with said machine frame, said platform part rigidly connected with said machine frame in top view being located within a contour spanned by a respectively broadest dimension in a region of said excavation tools and a respectively smallest width on a rear end of said machine frame.
 4. An advance working or mining machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein said laterally cantilevering platform means having at least a part arranged to be at least one of pivotable and displaceable transversely to the longitudinal axis of said advance working or mining machine is at least one of pivotable and displaceable into a position located within said contour.
 5. An advance working or mining machine as set forth in claim 1, further comprising lateral edge means provided on said laterally cantilevering platform means having at least a part arranged to be at least one of pivotable and displaceable transversely to the longitudinal axis of said advance working or mining machine, and at least one of runner means and lateral shield means provided on said lateral edge means.
 6. An advance working or mining machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein said laterally cantilevering platform means having at least a part arranged to be at least one of pivotable and displaceable transversely to the longitudinal axis of said advance working or mining machine is arranged in a manner respectively capable of being at least one of pivoted in and inserted below said platform part rigidly connected with said machine frame, in a vertical direction.
 7. An advance working or mining machine as set forth in claim 2, wherein said adjustment drive means are hydraulic adjustment drive means.
 8. An advance working or mining machine as set forth in claim 2, wherein said adjustment drive means are pneumatic adjustment drive means. 